Internet advertising accounts for 15% of 2014 market share

Daily News Egypt
4 Min Read
CEO of Dream Makers for Advertising Ahmed Sarhan
CEO of Dream Makers for Advertising Ahmed Sarhan
CEO of Dream Makers for Advertising Ahmed Sarhan

The spread of online shopping through social networking websites caused drastic changes in the marketing sector in general, according to CEO of Dream Makers for Advertising Ahmed Sarhan.  It has, in turn, led to the re-consideration of the e-marketing share, he said. The proof of this is in the e-marketing share jumping from 2.5% to 15% in most of the companies by the end of last year.

As for prices, Sarhan said it is normal that the price of online advertising is more than offline advertising. This is because it is mainly directed to a specific class of users or a specific sector, unlike traditional offline media. He added that even if online advertising prices get too high, they will not exceed the investments in television for example.

Sarhan also said that video websites like YouTube are visited by most internet users around the world, which contributed to the growth of online advertising in a different way.

On a different note, Founder and CEO of S3Geeks Mahmoud Ahmed said traditional offline marketing is not as efficient as it was before. Digital marketing and advertising are the normal course of the technological advancement we live in. Differences between both digital and offline marketing made it clear that digital marketing is the better choice, he said.

He added that digital marketing costs are lower compared to traditional offline marketing. It is easily noticeable on the internet given that social networking websites are widely spread and millions of people can see the advertisements. On the other hand, in offline marketing, a company places its advertisements in the streets at huge cost, but no one sees them except for a few hundred people walking down the streets.

Mahmoud added that offline marketing is still important in some stages to be able to reach the targeted audience. This is especially as some users are not active on the internet and do not follow the technological advancements, making offline marketing the only way to reach them.

General Manager of Dubizzle Ahmed Eraqi said we cannot compare digital with offline advertising since digital advertising is significantly faster and better in spreading through different sectors. He added that the digital marketing budget is less than offline marketing, which is a positive aspect of online marketing.

International companies turned to digital marketing in light of the spread of social networking websites allowing users to interact and share opinions on the product or the service offered online, Eraqi added. In his opinion, it is not right to marginalise the role of the offline marketing, since it is part of the marketing operations. This is true especially in the expansion phase of the new market and interacting with the different classes of the society who cannot use the internet.

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